With the prevalence of social media continuing to grow, influencers are becoming incredibly powerful tools in content marketing. In fact, a Tomoson study found that influencer outreach is “the fastest-growing online customer acquisition channel, outpacing organic search and email marketing.” For one, influencer outreach is incredibly useful when it comes to relationship development. We’re currently working on a couple of campaigns whose central audiences are geared toward the education market. So, how did we expand our outreach? We found popular teacher Instagram influencers with over 12,000 followers who we can approach with the latest series additions for optimal publicity. A simple Instagram post or story can go a long way in terms of making a lasting impact on consumers.
With that said, it’s imperative to implement tactics that best reach both influencers and your ultimate target audience. The key in initially building durable relationships, in my experience, is to come across as genuine as possible. Considering the numerous amounts of DMs these influencers sift through every day, taking an unorthodox, new approach can help achieve the attention you desire. Avoiding the clichéd, copied-and-pasted pitch will certainly help you stand out from the rest. Here are 3 tips to help you do just that:
1. Design your pitch around how your product or service can be beneficial to the individual influencer and less about how they can be beneficial to you. Any salesperson will tell you that people are of course more interested in what they stand to gain, so always keep that in mind. For instance, when reaching out to the teacher influencers we emphasized why our book would be a great addition to their classroom libraries. What teacher doesn’t love free books!?
2. Show them you know who they are. Instagram/Twitter bios are convenient, go-to places to find that kind of personal information- so utilize it!
3. Be relatable. It’s basic human nature to be drawn to people who you can relate to. It further shows these influencers that you’ve taken the time to scroll through their feed to find out what they’re all about.
All in all, influencer outreach can be extremely advantageous if approached properly. Authenticity is essential when building any type of relationship, so treat influencers more like people and less like brands.